Azernews.Az

By News Center

Turkey’s COVID-19 vaccine Turkovac is 50 percent more effective than that of China's Sinovac, Yeni Shafak has reported.

According to the phase-3 research of Hacettepe University, Turkovac reduces the risk of contracting the virus by 50 percent compared to the Chinese vaccine Sinovac, the report added.

The university announced the interim results of the phase-3 study of the Turkovac and Coronavac vaccines comparison. It was determined that the domestic vaccine Turkovac's rate of contracting COVID-19 decreased by 49.29 percent compared to the Coronavac vaccine of the Chinese company Sinovac.

The Coronavirus Scientific Committee Member and Turkovac Phase-3 study country coordinator Prof Serhat Unal stated that the interim results cover the analyses until 27 December 2021.

Noting that the first volunteer was recruited on June 22 (2021) within the scope of Turkovac-Coronavac Phase-3 studies, Unal underlined that all the data obtained are regularly shared with the Health Ministry.

"The follow-up period is 43 days in Coronavac and 108 days in Turkovac," he added.

The Hacettepe University Vaccine Institute Board Member and Turkovac Phase-3 Study researcher, Prof Mine Durusu Tanriover, explained that the research was conducted on 1,182 volunteers.

She added that healthy volunteers between the ages of 18-55, who have not had COVID and have not been vaccinated before, were included in the study.

Tanriover underlined that 73 percent of the volunteers were men and 27 percent were women. She added that 43 percent of them were 40-55 years old, 38 percent were 30-39 years old, and 19 percent were 18 -29 years old.

She also shared the data on the study on the prevention of symptomatic disease.

“Analyses for the prevention of symptomatic disease were performed on 1,008 volunteers. We detected a total of 68 COVID-19 cases in these people. Of these, 45 were in the Coronavac vaccine group and 23 were in the Turkovac vaccine group. In other words, while the COVID-19 case rate was 8.96 percent in Coronavac, it was 4.55 percent in Turkovac,” Tanriover stressed.

She explained that Turkovac is at least as safe and effective as the Coronavac vaccine, reducing the rate of contracting COVID-19 by 49.29 percent compared to Coronavac.

Tanriover pointed out that both vaccines are highly effective in preventing severe disease.

Noting that advanced-stage side effects were seen in one of those vaccinated with Coronavac, but not in those who had Turkovac, Tanriover said that the most common mild side effect in Turkovac was pain at the injection site.

She added that the benchmark was Coronavac as they were both inactive. In the study, the first Wuhan strain was tested, and then both of the different variants were checked, she concluded.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz